The
Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation has long unbroken history starting
in June 1793 when an Act of Parliament was passed authorising ìthe
making and maintaining of a navigable waterway between the town
of Chelmsford in the County of Essex, and a place called Colliers
Reach.
The
great canal architect, John Rennie, was appointed Chief Engineer,
and though he rarely visited the embryonic waterway, his hallmarks
can be seen in the mellow redbrick bridges and locks. Richard
Coates became Resident Engineer, and completed the Navigation's
construction within four years, though trade to Little Baddow
had commenced within three. Coates settled on the waterway and
became a major barge owner and merchant - his name being remembered
at Coates Quay in Springfield Basin.
In
its heyday in the mid 19th century up to 60,000 tons of freight
was carried along the 14 miles of the navigation, rising 77' via
12 locks between Heybridge Basin, on the Blackwater Estuary, and
Springfield Basin, close to the heart of Chelmsford.
Much
coal, corn and timber was transhipped in Heybridge Basin between
seagoing ships and navigation barges, though local freight was
carried, too, with every parish having its waterside wharf. Wood
and iron was taken to Chelmsford to build the Great Eastern Railway,
which, in turn, took freight away from the waterway, heralding
its decline. With dwindling traffic, horse-drawn barges survived
into the 1950s, and the last diesel lighter loaded timber from
a Scandinavian steamer for Browns Wharf in 1972.
Soon
after the last barge "Julie" took semi-retirement, the traditional
passenger barge "Victoria" opened up the navigation's tranquil
waters to the public, and since the 1970s the Company has looked
to leisure for its future, with moorings for private cruisers and
narrowboats, canoeing, fishing and walking. The Canal Centre at
Paper Mill, with its Old Stables Tea Rooms, river trips and hire
boats, opened in 2002.
"Chelmsford
Duke", the last working horse on the Navigation, handled by Fred
Hoy with Len Poole, picture taken in the early 1950s |
John
Rennie, Chief Engineer
of the Waterway
1952:
Horse-drawn timber barge on the Canal below Hoe
Baltic
coaster unloading timber at the Heybridge Sea Lock
1952
Director's Inspection of the Line - an annual trip, where the Company
Directors would survey the whole length of the Navigation by barge
Above:
New lock gates being installed at Paper Mill Lock, 1965 |
